A quick link

In the meantime, I was reminded recently of a blog post I read on Dr Chris Blattman’s blog (which I highly recommend adding to your RSS feed reader, as it’s full of interesting information and neat links posted by a very smart man) back in June when I was lying in bed in Vancouver in serious pain. Link is below, skip the next paragraph if you don’t have time for the explanation.

This short post is especially relevant in Europe, where there seems to be a non-stop mantra of “buy local only!” with so many products now labelled as “100% Swedish” here in Sweden, or “Produce of Great Britain” in the UK with big flag stickers. Sometimes you have to go to the ‘cheap’ grocery store to get anything that’s been imported from more than a few miles away! People often argue that this is better for the environment, and supports the local economy. Well, there must be dozens if not hundreds of papers written that argue quite strongly that ‘supporting the local economy’ by buying groceries locally isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The environmental impact, however, hasn’t been as disputed, with many supporters of opening first world markets to developing countries’ produce saying that the benefits to the world’s poor outweigh the increased pollution from all that transport distance, and eventually the increased quality of life will be accompanied by decreased pollution per capita. Well, it’s not that simple.

Here’s a short, very interesting, and in my opinion mandatory reading, for anyone who A) argues that buying locally is better for the environment or B) cares about the environment at all:

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One Comment

I’m so happy you posted this on your blog. I was looking for the article a few weeks ago – ultimately I found it, but I had to dig through your old facebook notes, and I hate using the new facebook interface. I, too, agree that it should be mandatory reading ;-)

It’s not very often that one comes across original, substantiated arguments that involve decreasing one’s impact on the environment, so when a gem like this comes along, it really is a treat to read.